In The Shadow Of A Flame
by SpaceSword16
Summary: Mari Sinclair is the daughter of the nortorious leader of Team Flare, Marius Sinclair. After her mother forces her to join Salz School of combat she must not only face the ridicule from most of her teachers but also most of the students. However as danger lurks just hidden in shadows can she and her team stop it?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Team Cynder is formed

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, it is owned by Nintendo and whomever else. I make nothing from writing this.**

 **Author's note: There will be threats (and maybe some scenes) of corporal punishment in this story. The school the characters go to is based on private military schools.**

Ivan Cynder sighed as he glanced out at the crowds of new students, some with Pokémon and others looking clueless as to why they had to come here. Glancing around once again he tried to find his _other_ student, who—like usual—was no where to be seen.

 _I'm going to kill her. She knew that today was orientation day._

He thought as he looked down at the files in his hands.

 _Julie (Jewel) Wolfe and Elena Marie Kage huh? The daughter of a gym leader….Interesting._

He thought as he flipped through their profiles, noting that Jewel had a necklace containing a blue megastone around her neck.

 _Passed the exam at fifteen huh? She has skill. There is only twenty five teenagers on the north American continent that has beat the elite four to get that kind of power._

He smirked as the thought entered his mind.

 _This should be an interesting year._

Meanwhile outside in the small forest a young girl with black hair, tipped with blue sat motionless in a tree, a Pigeotto eating berries from her palm.

"Yeah, eat up girl. You have babies farther up don't ya? Don't worry, I'll make sure no one tries to catch you this year….Trainers can be so idiotic, especially newbies."

She whispered, causing the thing to caw happily before returning to it's meal.

"Maybe one day you'll choose a trainer but I won't let it happen the other way around. It's disrespectful."

She was still sitting there, talking to the bird when an angry male voice called out

"Maria Sinclair! I know you are in here somewhere now get your ass out here! You made me look like a fool today!"

She winced at the voice before she glanced at the huge bird, which cocked it's head sideways.

"Care to give me a lift down there? I'll bring you some more food tomorrow."

She asked, watching as it hovered in front of her to let her hop on.

"What are you yelling about now Ivan?"

Maria asked once she was back on the ground and in front of the man, who glared down at her, arms crossed over his yellow tank top, which classed strongly with the camouflage military pants he wore.

"The ceremony? I swear you just want to make me look like I can't even control _one_ student, let alone three! It would take me a minute to give you a thrashing you won't forget."

He lectured, causing her to sigh.

"Sorry Ivan but I can't stand the looks I get. They don't see Maria when they look at me, they see _Markus Sinclair_ …No matter what I do."

She responded, her shoulders dropping as she glanced down.

"Mari, This year will be different. Last year you were a fourteen year old who could easily beat everyone in your class, who was a year or so older. This year there are at lest four other students with either a mega stone or a Z-crystal."

Ivan sighed, placing a hand on her shoulder before adding

"Aren't you a little curious about your new teammates?"

He hated when he had to lecture her, knowing that it was a blow not only to her emotionally but also to her self esteem.

"You mean they didn't run like hell when I was mentioned?"

She retorted, not even bothering to look up.

"No. One of them, Jewel….She has a mega stone like yours…except hers is blue and a necklace, not a ring."

He stated, smiling slightly when this seemed to catch her attention.

"Really? Maybe I should bit Knight against her to see what she has."

Maria answered after a while, causing him to laugh.

"They are in the training room…Waiting to meet you."

With that he put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a sideways hug.

"Okay, Okay! Enough being sappy."

Maria stated, pushing him away half heartedly though he made it impossible for her to break free.

 _The other instructors may be strict but I sure as hell don't have to be. Not with a bunch of children….They don't deserve it._

He thought with a grin as she tried to struggle against him, laughter replacing the hurt look she had worn only a few seconds before.

"You better be in the training room in ten minutes, Go get Knight and meet us there. I'm sure that Jewel is just as eager for battle as your houndoom is. You really need to let that thing compete more or it will just get lazy and fat."

He stated when he finally pulled away, earning a smile.

"Don't worry…Knight was more excited for today than I was. He will be thrilled to be able to battle with someone any time he wants!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Fire verses Water

The first thing that Maria noticed when she entered the room was that a rockruff was running about, the second thing was that her houndoom ran straight over to a red haired girl who looked ready to go into a panic.

"What's wrong new girl? Afraid of Pokémon?"

She asked, smirking as the brunette with short hair stood up.

"Leave her alone!"

Maria just smirked at this and shook her head.

"sit down, I'm not going to hurt her."

Maria retorted, grinning as she whistled, causing the hell hound like Pokémon to return to her side.

"You have a mega stone as well…Why don't you stop babying your girlfriend there and put your skill where your mouth is!"

The look on the other girl's face said she had hit a nerve.

"I can't…Not with megaevolution."

The girl admitted before pulling blastoisnite out of her pocket, the implication hanging thickly in the air.

"Then send your rockruff out…Knight is itching for a battle anyway."

"Girls, take it outside. Last thing we need is more building damage due to someone using earthquake inside."

Ivan sighed, shaking his head at how pushy Maria was being, but then again, she was Markus's daughter after all.

Once outside the teens turned toward each other.

"Ready when you are!"

The dark haired girl stated, grinning as she motioned for her rockruff to move forward.

Maria glanced down at her houndoom and smirked.

"Lets go Knight."

"I swear you two…" Ivan grumbled before adding "Jewel, You go first."

He called, earning a smirk from the dark haired girl who nodded and said

"Fang, use quick attack."

"Houndoom, dodge! Then use flamethrower!"

Maria yelled, though Jewel just scoffed.

"Rockthrow!"

Maria flinched as a barrage of stones hit the dog like creature, scooting him backward across the field.

"Shit! Knight use fire spin!"

It went back and forward like this for some time until finally Maria's houndoom collapsed onto the ground. Maria rushed over to him, instantly spraying a kind of blue liquid into it's mouth, bringing it back around.

"Good match boy, Return."

She stated, holding out a ultimate ball for it to retreat into.

"here, your Rockruff needs healed too."

She stated, tossing the bottle to Jewel before sighing

"See you back in the dorms, I need to get him to a heal center."

Once she had left Jewel looked down at the potion and then up to Ivan.

"I thought everyone said she was on Team flame."

She stated, earning a sigh.

"Her father is Markus Sinclair, leader of team flame. That girl has more problems than people realize, though the cruelty of the father did not pass down to the daughter so to speak, not even when he would force her."

He answered before adding

"At least give her a chance, everyone is so quick to judge her based on her lineage that they don't see her for who she is."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: First Night

Maria sighed, she couldn't sleep, not with Elena Whimpering in her sleep and Jewel mumbling as she tried to get comfortable. Getting out of bed she glanced over at them, earning a quizzical look from Jewel.

"You can't sleep either huh? Where you off too?"

Jewel asked, sitting up.

"I'm taking some food into the forest, Want to come?"

Maria responded, producing a bag of brightly colored fruit as well as what seemed to be home made

sweets.

"Fine, If we're going to spend the next four and a half years in this place we might as wells get to know each other."

Jewel responded with a slight grin.

"How's houndoom?" she added, noting that he wasn't out of his pokèball.

"Sleeping. He was worn out from our battle."

Maria answered with a chuckle before adding

"So do you have any more pokemon or is fang your only one?"

She noticed Jewel wince at the question and sighed.

"He's the only one I want…I didn't even want him really….after….Never mind."

When Jewel spoke her voice was quivering and she glanced away to try to blink away the tears that threatened to fall.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

Maria stated, moving to put a hand on the other girl's shoulder though no sooner than she realized what she had done she pulled away as if burned.

"Sorry."

Jewel grinned a bit at this, rolling her eyes.

"I don't bite you know. Come on, let's go feed whatever you take food too."

They walked into the woods in silence, however suddenly what Jewel saw made her both want to cry and hurt someone at the same time, for as they drew near a cave a Large spearow came out, his beak chipped in places as if he had attempted to drill into rock.

"She's a friend. She won't hurt you old fellow…We brought food."

Maria spoke as if she had know the creature for a long time, one hand reaching out to stroke it's long neck.

"this spearow blew in during a storm last year, he can't fly so some of the other Pokémon bring him food."

Maria explained, a genuine smile on her face as she saw a familiar set of yellow eyes watching her from the dark.

"I see you've not ran away from me today. Here…I made those sweets you like."

She stated, pulling out three spicy, red, pastries from a bag and tossed them toward the eyes, which mewed in response.

"That Litten was abandoned last year, by Darek Hall. He left the poor thing beat to death in middle of the marsh during a rain storm, probably hoping it would drown. I got bit quiet a lot while trying to tend to it's wounds but it prefers to live wild and I think it should."

Maria explained when she saw Jewels confused look, just as a torrent of other Pokémon came rushing out to raid the bags of food.

"How did you find this place?"

Jewel asked, kneeling down to pat on a Minum that was dancing around in front of her.

"I was out walking one night after Litten had ran away and I saw spearow trying to chase a caterpie and being unable to keep up with it. I had baked some sweets before hand and started feeding him, when I realized how many abandoned strays there were I just kept coming every night I could."

Maria answered with a shrug, noticing how Jewel stared at her like she Had two heads.

"What?"

She asked, earning a sigh.

"Nothing it's just the Sinclair's are known to be ruthless. I heard that Markus even…." Jewel let herself trail off, though Maria just sighed.

"They are known for that. But I'm not my father, you know?"

She responded, earning a nod.

"Yeah. I wasn't sure what you were going to be like when Mr. Cyprin told us you were the daughter of the leader of Team Flare. But I didn't expect you sneaking out at two in the morning to feed strays."

The honesty was a surprise to Maria, though a welcomed one.

"Yeah…I think Freckles is a bit afraid of me."

Jewel just laughed aloud at that.

"Lena is shy….Like…Deathly shy. I'm just glad that she didn't spend all night crying."

Ivan was waiting on them when they returned home, arms crossed over the front of his light purple pajama top.

"Girls?"

He asked, trying to sound stern but they noticed the corners of his lips twitching upward.

"Mr. Cyprin, we can explain…." Jewel began, getting a light glare sent her way.

"Mr. Is reserved for the classroom and not the students directly under me. Now where were you two gallivanting off to at this hour?"

He retorted, dropping the Prasad of anger to just level them with a curious look.

"I took food out to the Litten and that spearow." Maria answered, earning a sigh.

"Next time, take a Pokémon with you for protection or you two will be cleaning the stables, understand?"

He sent the pair a light glare before relaxing completely.

"Seriously, Do you guys realize how worried I was? You could have gotten attacked out there! No matter….Go to bed…It may be a Saturday tomorrow but I'm not letting you two be lazy all day."


End file.
